Reba McEntire is still processing Steve Howey’s memorable scene in Shameless.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Reba costars McEntire, 69, Melissa Peterman, 53, and Howey, 47, reunited for their new sitcom, Happy’s Place, and also remembered some unforgettable moments that have happened throughout their friendship.
McEntire recalled being thrown off-guard by Howey’s full-frontal nudity scene in the 2011 pilot of Shameless.
“I’ll never forget us coming to work,” McEntire recalled. “‘Did you see Steve last night?’ ‘Yes I did.'” McEntire then reenacted her original response, hiding her eyes and saying, “‘Oh! Oh my gosh.'”
“I said, ‘You need to warn us if there’s gonna be some unclothing happening in Shameless because you’re like our brother!’ It was too much!” Peterman added. She said she did tune in for the episode after “I washed my eyes out.”
The trio all previously starred on the 2001-2007 sitcom Reba, and reunited for the new sitcom, Happy’s Place. Whether or not Howey’s shirt remains on for the upcoming show is up in the air, though Howey is open to the idea.
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When asked if there will be any shirtless scenes, he said: “I don’t know. We might have some rewrites.” Peterman chimed in, telling Howey he will “give America what it wants,” and that he is “gonna take your shirt off at some point.”
The creator of both Happy’s Place and Reba, Kevin Abbott, told PEOPLE that he didn’t want to do “another family show.” He wanted to “tell more adult stories, not necessarily from an R-rated perspective, but from an adult perspective that we found really interesting.”
Happy’s Place focuses on Reba’s character, Bobbie, who “inherits her father’s restaurant and a business partner — her previously unknown half-sister,” as per NBC, and the two must navigate this new chapter of life together.
Peterman plays Gabby, Bobbie’s friend, which was a natural role for the actress. “I think what we did is we brought the chemistry that we have as real people and as real-life friends into these new characters,” Peterman told PEOPLE. “You can’t erase that. So I feel like we’re just the same people in a new play almost.”
Danny, Howey’s character in the new sitcom, is “a wealthy business owner that Gabby has met at a dog park,” a synopsis provided by NBC to PEOPLE says. “In order to impress him, Gabby has pretended to be Bobbie because she thinks that will make her more interesting … that is, until he wants to hold his holiday party at the tavern.”
“I absolutely love it,” McEntire said of filming for Happy’s Place. “Our group, our cast with the Reba show was magnificent, but with this cast and [writers] Mindy [Schultheis] and Michael [Hanel], Kevin said it at the very beginning, it [felt] like a second season on the first episode instead of a pilot. I don’t know why, but this show was meant to be at this time.”
Happy’s Place airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
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